This is a selfish moment. As a result of this moment…

I will be stepping on my soapbox!

Here it goes…

To those writing/speaking on “How to get Exec/#CEO buy-in.” How many of you talk often w/ Exec team…. I didn’t think so! #trenchHR

December 2, 2011 12:55 PM via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@BenjaminMcCall

Benjamin McCall

There are a lot of people out there writing articles. Practitioners, employees and consultants preaching the “How To’s:

• How to… talk to the C-Suite
• How to… give your CEO what he wants
• How to… deal with the leadership team
• How to… speak their language
• How to… tie HR to the bottom line of the business
• How to… build a case for the president…
• and so on and so on.

Some of it is good advice and much of it is crap. The bottom line: every executive, leadership and business unit head is different. What they face dependant on industry, employee population and customer can range. There are multiple factors. I understand that if you have no foundational understanding that these articles and this talk may help. But at the very core of these conversations is the idea or belief that you will receive some sort of ‘Silver Bullet’ to know exactly what you need to do in every situation.

My advice before taking any of this advice…

Tread lightly!

Before you take anyone’s advice, first ask yourself or those who write and/or speak about anything related to “How do you get the Executive team or CEO’s buy-in?” this

…”How often do you talk with an Executive team member or the CEO?” or “How often do they speak to you?”

My gamble would be that these individuals do not speak to them often or often enough. What you need to have above all else is ACCESS.

Of course this is just my thought process and also the reason why I will be…

Stepping down from my soap box now!

Last week I had the pleasure of presenting at the Ohio HR conference which had a record of over 700 attendees.

I was also fortunate or less fortunate to perform the daunting task of delivering this presentation on Friday morning which began at 7:15am. Keep in mind that:

1. it was a 7:15 am session
2. the conference attendees had been there for 2 days
3. they probably came to the session from two nights of good times!
4. this was an early bird session on Friday
5. this was the final day of presentations
6. it competed against sessions on FMLA and I-9 (yeah me!)
7. can I stress that it was at 7:15 am

Despite the early morning there were probably around 150 people in the session if I estimate correctly. I think it was because of the Anthony Hamilton music I played. *shoulder shrug.* The topic of this was Building a Leadership Development Program from Scratch. Without further adieu here are the slides from that session. If you would like to have a downloaded version please subscribe to the blog and then contact me and I would be happy to send you the notes!

Now how do you approach and build your own Leadership and Training efforts?

The description from the program pamphlet: “Leadership is a concept that has been discussed for years. It has moved from being a simple term and ideology to active growth and building operational capability in the practices of individuals becoming leaders. Pressure to build leadership from front-line employees to the executive suite is on. However, the question remains “We need leaders but what should you think about when creating a program to develop them?

You read my blog? Cool…

I was having a conversation with a few people last night at a networking event. We started talking about the way we learn new things, stay abreast of current news and events, interact with others and how we gather information for both personal and professional use. After a mention of my own blog, here at ReThinkHR.org, one colleague mentioned that it was a must read (I’m Honored!). With which the group replied, “cool you have a blog… so what do you talk about?” I began to describe it and a few said that they would have to stop by and read it.

What’s an RSS feed?

For those in the group that currently read it, I was actually surprised to find that several people liked what I had to say and said they stopped by here frequently. I asked, Do you have an RSS feed… blah blah blah. From there it went further into the conversation of how setting up an RSS feed would be very beneficial for anyone trying to stay alert to new info! So for those that have no clue, here are a few resources to help those of you that have never set one up - start to set on up. I promise you it will make your eyes happy!

Oh and feel free to subscribe to this blog if you have yet to do so: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ReThinkHR

Quick Resources

How to set up an RSS Feed (PDF)

RSS in Plain English: (Click for to View)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU

Intro to Google Reader (Video - In Plain English - Click to View)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSPZ2Uu_X3Y&feature=related

How to set up a Google Account and Google Reader (Click to View)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raTqM7A5esk